It has been a fantastic year for Latinx books. Here are ten of the best books of 2024 that you should add to your read list and devour this holiday season. These books also make great presents – happy reading!
Victim by Andrew Boryga
First on our list of 2024 Latinx books is Andrew Boryga’s debut novel Victim. It’s a satire about a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the guise of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the currency of identity.
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
The Bullet Swallower is a magical realism Western that follows a Mexican bandido. In Elizabeth Gonzalez James’s novel, he sets off for Texas to rob a train only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come to collect on a cosmic debt generations in the making.
A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell
A rising voice in Latinx literature, Mariana Enriquez’s translated collection of horror stories, A Sunny Place for Shady People, features human characters whose lives intertwine with ghosts, goblins, and the macabre.
We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado
The Other Black Girl meets Midsommar in this spine-chilling, propulsive psychological adult debut from highly acclaimed author Vincent Tirado. We Came to Welcome You introduces us to a married couple who moves into a gated “community” that slowly builds into a pervasive dread akin to the social horror of Jordan Peele and Lovecraft Country.
Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldivar
There are so few Honduran authors that are being published today so it is such a joy to read Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldivar and include it in our list of the top Latinx books of 2024. It’s a queer YA coming-of-age story set during the rigged Honduran presidential election and it follows a poet discovering the courage it takes to speak her truth about the people and country she loves.
First in the Family by Jessica Hoppe
An unflinching and poignant memoir of recovery written by Hondurn-Ecuadorian writer Jessica Hoppe, First in the Family shares what it means to disrupt cycles of harm. In it, Hoppe interrogated the American Dream and the erasure of people of color from recovery institutions and narratives.
American Negra by Natasha S. Alford
Award-winning journalist and political analyst Natasha S. Alford recounts her experiences as an African American and Puerto Rican woman. In American Negra, she reflects on her improbable journey from Syracuse to Harvard, hedge fund boardrooms to newsrooms, and beyond in pursuit of America’s infinite opportunities.
Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raised Us by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
A celebration of the women at the heart of our families, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez unravels the female archetypes she grew up surrounded by, from strong, kind, and funny to sensitive, resilient, judgmental, and messy women. Fearlessly grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma, centuries of colonization, and sexism, she attempts to heal the pain that is so often embodied in female family lines in Tías and Primas.
Break the Cycle: A Guide to Healing Intergenerational Trauma by Dr. Mariel Buqué
Break the Cycle is the definitive, paradigm-shifting guide to healing intergenerational trauma so of course we had to name it as one of our top-ten Latinx books of 2024. In it, Dr. Mariel Buqué, Ph.D – a Columbia University-trained, trauma-informed, psychologist, professor, and practitioner of holistic healing – weaves together scientific research with practical exercises and stories from the therapy room.
Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Oye is a debut coming-of-age comedy in the vein of a telenovela drama. Melissa Mogollon tells the story of a young woman who reckons with her rowdy, unpredictable family and the revelation of their long-buried history.
